Looking for Work, Entry Level Business, BA in Economics recent graduate

Afrikeber · Oct 27, 2014

Go to USA jobs and search apply for Contracting Officer positions. Your academic background matches that position and is constantly in demand. Good luck and do not give up. Sounds like you have done all the right things in life. keep your nose clean, remember emotional intelligence and keeping your work ethics high will get you far in your career. Best.......

Dan_G · Oct 28, 2014

Thanks again, I'll be looking into everything mentioned.

fabsroman · Oct 29, 2014

davsco said:
UMD should have some sort of job referral program where they post jobs or email you relevant ones. ask your professors for leads.

List your GPA unless it's below 3.0. Quantify your repair business ($ volume, parts volume bottom line, etc). Say some neat stuff you can do in excel (macros, pivots, lookups, etc); same with powerpoint. Lose the snowboard instructor, first thought is you're gone on powder days. Human "C"apital. List some of the MechEngr classes you took. How much $ in donations did you raise? Budget for annual car show?

what do you want to do??? find trade associations in that industry and they should have job boards also. target companies in your field of interest (letters and emails to presidents/owners). you can also do work with/for temp agencies in your field of interest to get your foot in a door somewhere. find recruiters that specialize in your field.

you mention your side job helped pay for school (good). did you graduate debt-free, mostly debt-free, if so, that's an accomplishment and should be listed.

good luck!

I graduated from UMCP in 1993 and the career center was great. My degree was in accounting and I got interviews with 5 of the Big 6 back then, with a call back from the now defunct Arthur Andersen. We were going through a recession at the time, but I ended up getting an offer from the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits. Worked there for 2 years. The career center at the University of Baltimore was pretty good too. Got a couple of clerk positions while I was in law school, one of which turned into a full time attorney position offer.

OP - without looking at your resume, I don't know what to tell you other than to keep at it and while you might not want to turn a hobby into a profession, you might not have a choice. If you really enjoy working on vehicles and you are good at it, you might want to think about starting your own garage. Granted, no steady paycheck there, but if you are good at it and work hard, the long term reward is well worth it.

Best time to take the risk is when you are young, unmarried, and without a family to feed. As people get more and more financial "responsibility" in life (i.e., debt), they are less apt to take the risk that could possibly provide greater reward. Instead, the settle for the guaranteed paycheck. Very few people are their own boss.

BlackBart · Oct 29, 2014

Second Amendment said:
How about an admin position with a car dealership chain?

Yup........ like F&I.

jpo183 · Oct 30, 2014

Hey Dan,

Ignore the crapoloa here. Ill give you the same advice I gave my brother with an economics degree.

It is too general to get a career with just that. IMO the best option is to specialize with a license of some type.(or multiple)

If you wanted, you could go take an AA at a community college in accounting and sit for your CPA.

Whether you go toward financial trade (series license), real estate, insurance, etc a license is needed with a general degree such as that.

Also you would be surprised with sales. most sales jobs are NOT 100% commission. Sales is the FAIREST job of any out there. You produce, you keep your job. Sales is recession proof, again, you produce you keep your job.

People "down play" sales all the time, but it is one of the most rewarding jobs out there. There is no other position (besides owning your own business) with unlimited earnings potential.

My brother eventually took my advice and decided to go work for geico as an adjuster. In todays work place many employers are simply looking for the degree as a"check the box" item.

Know three things:

1) You know nothing

2) Your degree is so general you can virtually go anywhere that is not specialized (engineering, architect, etc)

3) hard work and a brain, go a long way.

Hope that helps.

fabsroman · Oct 30, 2014

jpo183 said:
Hey Dan,

Ignore the crapoloa here. Ill give you the same advice I gave my brother with an economics degree.

It is too general to get a career with just that. IMO the best option is to specialize with a license of some type.(or multiple)

If you wanted, you could go take an AA at a community college in accounting and sit for your CPA.

Whether you go toward financial trade (series license), real estate, insurance, etc a license is needed with a general degree such as that.

Also you would be surprised with sales. most sales jobs are NOT 100% commission. Sales is the FAIREST job of any out there. You produce, you keep your job. Sales is recession proof, again, you produce you keep your job.

People "down play" sales all the time, but it is one of the most rewarding jobs out there. There is no other position (besides owning your own business) with unlimited earnings potential.

My brother eventually took my advice and decided to go work for geico as an adjuster. In todays work place many employers are simply looking for the degree as a"check the box" item.

Know three things:

1) You know nothing

2) Your degree is so general you can virtually go anywhere that is not specialized (engineering, architect, etc)

3) hard work and a brain, go a long way.

Hope that helps.

Sales is not recession proof. Just had a client of mine get rif'ed after a merger because the acquiring company had its own sales force and the new line was just added to the old line. Have had another sales client bouncing around from company to company about every 2 years since 2009. Low man on the totem pole gets the ax when there is a rif.

Also, during a recession, unless you are selling a necessity, the demand for items goes down. Hence, any sales position that relies on commission for compensation has a corresponding reduction in pay. Imagine selling durable goods like high end appliances (e.g., Wolf, Viking) during the Great Recession. Imagine trying to sell home improvements during the Great Recession. I can assure you, the bottom dropped out of both markets because I have clients in both markets.

I will agree with you though that a general economics degree isn't going to get the OP a job at anything other than being an economist, and it probably takes a doctorate to get that sort of job.

jpo183 · Oct 30, 2014

fabsroman said:
Sales is not recession proof. Just had a client of mine get rif'ed after a merger because the acquiring company had its own sales force and the new line was just added to the old line. Have had another sales client bouncing around from company to company about every 2 years since 2009. Low man on the totem pole gets the ax when there is a rif.

Also, during a recession, unless you are selling a necessity, the demand for items goes down. Hence, any sales position that relies on commission for compensation has a corresponding reduction in pay. Imagine selling durable goods like high end appliances (e.g., Wolf, Viking) during the Great Recession. Imagine trying to sell home improvements during the Great Recession. I can assure you, the bottom dropped out of both markets because I have clients in both markets.

I will agree with you though that a general economics degree isn't going to get the OP a job at anything other than being an economist, and it probably takes a doctorate to get that sort of job.

Granted, however there are MANY MANY MANY sales positions out there that sell products and services that everyone (businesses included) need during all times.

As you know I own, a Payroll, HR, EE Benefit company, we started at the great recession and have grown every year.

A sales guy that produces will NEVER not have a job. If they don't have a job they didn't produce enough to justify keeping them onboard.

Just my .02

fabsroman · Oct 30, 2014

jpo183 said:
Granted, however there are MANY MANY MANY sales positions out there that sell products and services that everyone (businesses included) need during all times.

As you know I own, a Payroll, HR, EE Benefit company, we started at the great recession and have grown every year.

A sales guy that produces will NEVER not have a job. If they don't have a job they didn't produce enough to justify keeping them onboard.

Just my .02

Anybody that "produces" will always have a job. If somebody is extremely good at what they do, they will be the last one standing when it comes to rifs, etc. If somebody is very good at what they do, they can most likely make it on their own too.

What you did not have to endure is the Great Recession. Saw plenty of businesses not reduce staff quick enough and then run into money issues. Or, they had expanded and rented more space and then were not able to meet the rent because they did not have enough cash on hand when things slowed down. Wait until another Great Recession comes along and the payroll clients you have start closing their doors because they are going out of business and your income is thereby reduced. I experienced this. Not only that, but I went from doing about 5 new organizations (e.g., S Corp, LLC, LLP) a year to zero for three years. Things are just starting to pick up in that regard five years later.

It is easy to grow a business in a booming economy, or even a growing economy. It is tough to keep the lights on during a Great Recession unless you are extremely good at what you do and you are business savy.

Like you, this is just my opinion, based on my personal experience.

mayor_quimby · Oct 30, 2014

http://www.boozallen.com/
Financial Analyst, Junior-01181736
Financial Analyst, Junior-01181418
Econometrics Analyst, Junior-01171822
Cost Analyst, Junior-01181028

That was a quick search for a year experience which means fresh out of college.... look at Northrup Grumman /Lockheed Martin/Raytheon/Harris/EY/L3/ Legg Mason

Most gov contracting firms are located in the DC metro area which flows into Nova.

I have the same undergrad degree... graduated a few years ago , when Oct hit I could not find anything ( I was applying to government jobs) I expanded my search and looked into government contractors and things started rolling. You basically need a foot in the door and everything opens up after that.

good luck

Dan_G · Oct 30, 2014

Thanks a lot. I am taking the advice I have been given here and modifying my job search accordingly.

virtus · Oct 30, 2014

Look at the insurance industry. I have friends that went that way and they are doing very well. I had one buddy with an Econ degree end up at the Social Security Admin. and his career has progressed very nicely.

The BEST advice I could give you, look for a job within the University System of Maryland (or a University System out of state). Let them pay for you to keep going to school and get your Master's for practically nothing, while you get business experience.

Dan_G · Oct 30, 2014

Thanks again. Also I am kind of a North Jersey transplant so I dont know of any smaller local businesses, so if anybody knows of any please let me know.

mayor_quimby · Oct 30, 2014

Lockheed Martin :
Req ID :297982BR
Req ID :299174BR
Req ID :304211BR
Req ID :304234BR

Dan_G · Oct 30, 2014

Thank you

DeadeyeJack · Oct 30, 2014

$13.75 /hr working for Amazon in Chattanooga. No experience required.

lilgibby · Oct 30, 2014

Could drive for uber, lyft or sidecar if you have a decent car...

t84a · Oct 30, 2014

As hard as it has become to get into U of MD (my alma mater), one would think a graduate could get any job she/he wanted. It just validates my assertion that U of Md does not want in-state students.

stu929 · Oct 30, 2014

If you haven't had any luck we can chat tomorrow. I work for a very large CPG company and we are currently hiring in your area for multiple jobs. I have both merchandising as well as a sales job listed currently.

let me know

Steve

AssMan · Oct 30, 2014

Dan_G said:
Hi, I am looking for an entry level job within an hours drive of Urbana. I just graduated from UMD in May and have been unsuccessful in my job search. I prefer not to work in a sales job or for commission only. While I also prefer something business related I would also enjoy working in the automotive field but not as a tech.
Attached is a redacted resume.

Wife is a recruiter is at Target, and her friend is at Carmax. Not sure if either are of interest to you but she said she'd take a call.

stu929 · Oct 30, 2014

jpo183 said:
Granted, however there are MANY MANY MANY sales positions out there that sell products and services that everyone (businesses included) need during all times.

As you know I own, a Payroll, HR, EE Benefit company, we started at the great recession and have grown every year.

A sales guy that produces will NEVER not have a job. If they don't have a job they didn't produce enough to justify keeping them onboard.

Just my .02

While I agree with you for the most part I've seen plenty of good people get the ax because of rif or politics within the workplace. And sadly once a company gets large enough sadly they start to factor in things that have nothing to do with job performance.

Looking for Work, Entry Level Business, BA in Economics recent graduate

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